2011 Slam Dunk Contest Participants. Every year, at about January when the participants for the upcoming dunk contest are released, instead of talking about who is in the dunk contest, the conversation inevitably turns to who should be in the dunk contest.

Well there are the obvious ones like LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, who would bring the big name to the dunk contest, and there is Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook, who are the most athletic point guards in recent memory.

If I were to put together a dream top four for next year, it would have to include Blake Griffin (depending on how this year shapes up), LeBron James, Rudy Gay, who never seems to get the love for his extreme athleticism, and Perry Jones if he ends up getting drafted this year, just because I’m down to see the rookies on the biggest stage of showing off, they usually bring their best effort.

On Saturday night in Los Angeles, some of the best dunkers in the NBA will participate in the league’s annual Slam Dunk Competition.

Like many people, my favorite to win this year is Blake Griffin. He has taken the NBA by storm with some of his insane dunks, and I expect him to do something spectacular on Saturday. My sleeper pick is Serge Ibaka, as he’s a super athletic forward who could give Blake a run for the title.

Now, because of all the amazing dunks Blake Griffin has done this year, I have a feeling that he’ll do something so spectacular it may be considered one of the best dunks of all-time. To see what Blake might have to go against, let’s rank the top ten dunks in the Slam Dunk Competition’s history.

This list is pretty basic. It goes in reverse order, with each dunk ranked by creativity, originality, degree of difficultly, and crowd reaction.